Infiltration behavior of Cu and Ti fillers into Ti2AlC/Ti3AlC2 composites during tungsten inert gas (TIG)brazing

Herein we study the infiltration behavior of Ti and Cu fillers into a Ti₂AlC/Ti₃AlC₂MAX phase composites using a TIG-brazing process. The microstructures of the interfaces were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry. When Ti₂AlC/Ti₃AlC₂ comes into contact with molten Ti, it starts decomposing into TiC_x, a Ti-richandTi₃AlC; when in contact with molten Cu, the resulting phases are Ti₂Al(Cu)C, Cu(Al), AlCu₂Ti and TiC. In the presence of Cu at approximately 1630 °C, a defective Ti₂Al(Cu)C phase was formed having a P63/mmc structure. Ti₃AlC₂ MAX phase was completely decomposed in presence of Cu or Ti filler-materials. The decomposition of Ti₂AlC to Ti₃AlC₂ was observed in the heat-affected zone of the composite. Notably, no cracks were observed during TIG-brazing of Ti₂AlC/Ti₃AlC₂ composite with Ti or Cu filler materials.     

Non-linear optical and electrical properties of ZnO doped Ni Thin Films obtained using spray ultrasonic technique

In the present study zinc oxide doped Nickel thin films (ZnO:Ni) were deposited on glass substrates using a chemical spray ultrasonic technique. The effect of Ni concentration on the structural, electrical, optical, and non-linear optical (NLO) properties of the ZnO:Ni thin films was investigated. The films were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), profilometry and optical transmittance. A polycrystalline structure with a preferential growth along the ZnO (002) plane was found, the optical transmittance was found to be higher than 80% and the band gap (E_g) varied from 3.19 to 3.27 eV. The value of the electrical conductivity was found. Moreover, the effective non-linear quadratic and cubic electronic susceptibilities of thin film samples were determined by the SHG and THG techniques, working at 1064 nm.     

HVOF sprayed WC–Co coatings: Microstructure,mechanical properties and friction moment prediction

This study aims at gaining a better understanding of the microstructural features that control the mechanical and the tribological performances of WC–12 wt.% Co coatings under High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) spraying conditions. This paper looks at the influences of the HVOF process parameters for WC–12Co material on the microstructural and the tribological behaviours of the coatings. The correlation between the coating microstructure and the wear behaviour is investigated by observing and analysing the microstructure and by studying the friction moment using enhanced statistical tool based on neural computations. According to the experimental and the numerical results, it has been shown that the spray parameters affect the phase composition, hardness and porosity of HVOF sprayed WC–12Co coatings and the correlations with HVOF process parameters are fully predictable in the steady-state regime.     

Degenerate-wave mixing in new dithienylethylenes

We report the measurement of the degenerate fourth-wave mixing (DFWM) of new dithienylethylenes in chloroform solutions at λ=532 nm in ps regime with different numbers of π-conjugated bonds. From these measurements, we evaluated the values of the second order hyperpolarizabilities γ, which are about 10³ larger than the γ value of CS₂. The influence of π-conjugated bonds on the third-order susceptibilities and appropriate figures of merits is discussed. The more important seems to be the possibility of a simultaneous increase of the third-order susceptibilities, together with the decrease of the absorption coefficients that open a possibility of their use as promising materials for laser wavelengths mixing.     

Microcrystalline Bi2ZnB2O7-polymer composites with silver nanoparticles as materials for laser operated devices

A novel type of composite for optoelectronic which is operated by second harmonic generation in the Bi₂ZnB₂O₇ crystallites (with sizes varying within 1–30 μm) and Ag nanoparticles (NP) embedded in PMMA polymer composites is proposed. The substantial influence of the Ag NP on the bicolor induced second harmonic generation was established. The phototreatment was performed by bicolor beams of nanosecond Nd:YAG laser (1,064/532 nm) at angles between the fundamental and photoinducing beams varying within the 19°–21° range. The studies of the corresponding dependences of the SHG during illumination by the two coherent beams at 1,064/532 nm showed a maximal enhancement of the output SHG for the Ag NP average sizes equal to about 40 nm. The role of the excited plasmons may be here crucial. Additionally the time shift between the fundamental and the doubled frequency beam maxima was found, which shows strong sensitivity to illumination. The established time shift is sensitive to the pumping power.     

Photopyroelectric Calorimetry of \hbox {Fe}_{3}\hbox {O}_{4} Magnetic Nanofluids: Effect of Type of Surfactant and Magnetic Field

Five types of magnetic nanofluids, based on \(\hbox {Fe}_{3}\hbox {O}_{4}\) nanoparticles with water as the carrier liquid, were investigated by using the two photopyroelectric (PPE) detection configurations (back (BPPE) and front (FPPE)), together with the thermal-wave resonator cavity (TWRC) technique as the scanning procedure. The difference between the nanofluids was the type of surfactant: double layers of lauric (LA–LA), oleic (OA–OA), and miristic (MA–MA) acids and also double layers of lauric–miristic (LA–MA) and palmitic-oleic (PA–OA) fatty acids were used. In both detection configurations, the information was contained in the phase of the PPE signal. The thermal diffusivity of nanofluids was obtained in the BPPE configuration, from the scan of the phase of the signal as a function of the liquid’s thickness. Using the same scanning procedure in the FPPE configuration, the thermal effusivity was directly measured. The influence of a 0.12 kG magnetic field on the thermal effusivity and thermal diffusivity was also investigated. Because of different surfactants, the thermal effusivity of the investigated nanofluids ranges from \(1530\,\hbox {W}\cdot \hbox {s}^{1/2} \cdot \hbox { m}^{-2}\cdot \hbox { K}^{-1}\) to \(1790\,\hbox { W}\cdot \hbox {s}^{1/2}\cdot \hbox { m}^{-2}\cdot \hbox { K}^{-1}\) , and the thermal diffusivity, from \(14.54~\times ~10^{-8}\,\hbox { m}^{2}\cdot \hbox { s}^{-1}\) to \(14.79~\times ~10^{-8}\,\hbox { m}^{2}\cdot \hbox { s}^{-1}\) . The magnetic field has practically no influence on the thermal effusivity, and produces a maximum increase of the thermal diffusivity (LA–LA surfactant) of about 4 %.     

Maintainability defects detection and correction: a multi-objective approach

Software defects often lead to bugs, runtime errors and software maintenance difficulties. They should be systematically prevented, found, removed or fixed all along the software lifecycle. However, detecting and fixing these defects is still, to some extent, a difficult, time-consuming and manual process. In this paper, we propose a two-step automated approach to detect and then to correct various types of maintainability defects in source code. Using Genetic Programming, our approach allows automatic generation of rules to detect defects, thus relieving the designer from a fastidious manual rule definition task. Then, we correct the detected defects while minimizing the correction effort. A correction solution is defined as the combination of refactoring operations that should maximize as much as possible the number of corrected defects with minimal code modification effort. We use the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) to find the best compromise. For six open source projects, we succeeded in detecting the majority of known defects, and the proposed corrections fixed most of them with minimal effort.     

Direct simulation vs volume-averaged treatment of adiabatic, premixed flame in a porous medium

For the case of flame thickness being of the order of the pore linear dimension, the flame structure and speed in adiabatic, premixed methane-air combustion in porous media are examined. The local, volume-averaged conservation equations that assume a local thermal equilibrium between the solid and the gas phases (i.e. the single-medium treatment) or allow for a thermal nonequilibrium (i.e. the two-medium treatment) are used along with the direct application of the pointwise conservation equation to a two-dimensional porous medium model (ordered arrangement of discrete or connected square cylinders). The effective properties of the porous medium in the volume-averaged treatments, including the interfacial Nusselt number, are found by applying the local volume-averaging principles. The results show that, although significant variations of the temperature and species concentrations occur over a pore, the flame structure, thickness, speed, and excess temperature (i.e. local gas temperature in excess of the adiabatic temperature) are fairly well predicted by the two-medium model (the single-medium treatment is unable to predict the local excess temperature). However, the volume-averaged treatments are unable to predict the pore-level, local high temperature region in the gas phase (which can be up to 40% above the adiabatic temperature), and the pore-level variation in the flame speed with respect to the flame location in the pore (which can vary by up to 20%). Other shortcomings of the volume-averaged treatments are also revealed through a parametric examination involving the pore-geometry variables, solid to gas conductivity ratio, equivalence ratio, porosity, and flame location within the pore.     

On the accurate determination of thermal diffusivity of liquids by using the photopyroelectric thickness scanning method

An enhanced accurate method of measuring the thermal diffusivity of liquids by the sample's thickness scan of the phase of the photopyroelectric signal is presented. The method, making use of the absolute values of the phase and sample thickness, leads to very accurate results for the room temperature values of thermal diffusivity (about +/-0.3%). The high accuracy of the method is due to a very precise control of the sample's thickness variation (0.1 microm step), to a proper localization of the thickness scan range, and to a new procedure of data analysis. The high accuracy of the method recommends it for the study of processes associated with small changes of the thermal parameters.